First Mission
by railwayfan247
Summary: Harry always fantisised about what his first mission would be like. But when he is sent with fourteen year old Sharah, sparks fly - litraly...
1. Chapter 1: Brake in

FIRST MISSION

The corrugated iron walls intertwined with ivy surrounded the main compound. To Harry it seemed to elevate forever into the black of the night, and he knew it was electrified. Suddenly, he heard a rustle in some bushes behind him. He turned around, ready to fight – but instead of a guard emerging, out crawled a teenage girl. Sarah, like Harry, was a member of CHERUB. She was four years older than him, with her being fifteen and him eleven. She'd been told to accompany him on the mission, despite both of their objections. "Do you have any understanding of the word stealth?" Harry hissed. "You could've blown our cover!" Well if I were you, I wouldn't be in any position to tell me how to do this job" she replied angrily. "I mean, it is your first mission…" "Don't start on that again! I had enough from you when we were back at campus." Sarah reached into her coat and pulled out a set of x-ray goggles. She put them up to her eyes and scanned the ground. After a few seconds, she saw a metal hatch a few meters from where she was standing. "Great" she said to herself sarcastically as she kneeled down by it in the mud. "Instead of going to Kerry's sixteenth birthday, I'm stuck with a eleven year old tot on his first mission. "You know what?" Harry said as he knelt down beside her. "You're a proper girly-girl." "What's that supposed to mean" she asked in a tone that meant she really couldn't care less. "I mean, that you spend all your time moaning on about Justin Bieber and talking about hairstyles and always screeching when you chip a nails and…" "Shut up! You're just being childish, and sexist!" "I am not! It's true, and you're just ashamed to admit it!" As Harry and Sarah continued to argue in the darkness, they hadn't realised that a pair of guards about thirty meters from them had noticed a movement near the bushes. They started to advance, and Harry just noticed them out of the corner his eye and made a signal with his hand. They both crouched in a strategic position that would give them an advantage, should they be discovered. The two guards stopped a few metres from where they were hiding and waved a flashlight in Harry and Sarah's direction. The seconds seemed to turn into hours but eventually the guards, convinced that what they had seen was nothing, walked away. Slowly, Sarah crawled back to the metal hatch and felt the sides with her fingers. "It's fastened shut, hand me the Seal-Opener from your backpack". Harry slowly unzipped his pack and handed the device to her. He had felt tempted to say a witty remark, but almost being discovered had shaken him up. The Seal-Opener was made in the shape of a knife, but incredibly thinner. Sarah used it to cut around the edges and once she had finished, it opened with ease. The next step was considerably more complicated. The task was to remove half the wires that were sealed inside. This would result in the power being cut in the compound and therefore set a distraction. Most people would've struggled, but with the years of knowledge Sarah had gained from living at CHERUB, the task was possible. For the first few minutes, everything was going to plan. She only had one wire to go. Her hand was close to it and as she cut sparks landed in her hand. "S**t!" she swore as she grabbed the knife from the floor. With one final swipe, the last required wire fell. For a few seconds there was nothing. Harry wondered whether something had gone wrong, but then all of a sudden every light in the compound flickered. And then, one by one, all the lights seized to work. The job had been done; this was the distraction that the fellow CHERUB team, on the other side of the compound, needed. "Great" Harry said with appreciation for Sarah for the first time. "Now all we need is to get out of here…" Harry was cut off by the sight of Sarah's eyes widening. He turned around and realised he was facing the trigger of a rifle. "On your feet" the guard barked to them. Harry had only been at CHERUB for a few years, but he knew that if your cover was blown – then the only option was to run. He threw and upper-cut and hit the man unexpectedly in the face. He fell to the ground, sprawling and trying to get up. But the guard was slow. Before he was on his feet Sarah smashed him in the stomach with a powerful roundhouse kick. "Run!" she screamed as they sprinted away from the metal gates. They kept running until they reached their checkpoint. Their mission controller was to pick them up from the side of the road in a few minutes. "D…do you think he saw which direction we went?" Harry panted, still out of breath. "I don't know" Sarah replied. "He was practically unconscious, so it's unlikely". "Hey – you know what? You did pretty good back there with that roundhouse kick". It was hard for Harry to be sure in the darkness, but he could've sworn Sarah smiled at him. "You didn't do bad yourself kiddo" She replied. "Not bad for a first missioner…"

THE END


	2. Chapter 2: Two Weeks Later

FIRST MISSION: TWO WEEKS LATER

Harry was lying in a soft, crisply made bed. All his brain could think about right now was how warm and snug it was. He shifted his head up a little to look at his digital clock. 06:37; he still had time. He rolled back into his previous position and relaxed for a minute or two – and then he remembered. His head shot up from the pillow and hit the side of his dressing table. Any other day he would have cried out in pain, but not today. He had remembered, that today – he had a meeting with Zara…

He didn't know much about what he and she would discuss, but he could easily take a guess. Two weeks ago, he was involved in a mission that's objective was to recover some information. The operation had been divided into two teams. The first consisted of him and a fourteen year old girl called Sarah. There role in the mission was to create a diversion by cutting the power to the main compound, so that team two on the other side would be able to continue the mission without any interference. However, just after he and Sarah had completed their task, a guard on the outer perimeter spotted them. When he tried to hold them, Sarah and Harry had no choice but to attack him. The man hadn't seen that hurt, but Harry was still worried that perhaps he had punched him a little _too _hard.

Harry glanced back at the clock – 06:38; he was wrong – he certainly didn't have time. Quickly, he scrambled out of bed and grabbed an official CHERUB shirt from the floor and pulled it over his head. This was followed by some jeans, socks and a pair of old Nike trainers he'd had ever since he'd lived on campus. After this he dashed to his bathroom mirror, where he straightened himself up and brushed his teeth. Then, without another moments thought, he dashed out the door and into the hall. Harry paused for a second; he remembered that he was meant to take his mission papers with him. Normally, He ran back inside his room and started to search for them. Eventually he found the documents. When he was first given them, they were crisp, clean and tidy. But a week in the presence of Harry was all that was needed to turn it from that into a creased, wrecked nightmare. Harry looked at the clock yet again – 06:41. He had to meet Zara at 06:50 – it wasn't looking good. Hastily, Harry made a feeble attempt to straighten out the papers. But suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a piece of paper hanging out of his chest of drawers. It definitely hadn't been there when he'd got unchanged last night. Slowly, but aware of the time, he crept forward to the drawers. He realised now that it wasn't a piece of paper, but an envelope. He opened it with caution, as if it were a tiger ready to pounce. Inside was a lined sticky note with a message. It read –

It'll be fine! See you in in a minute.

~Sarah~

It was a simple note, but it meant a lot to Harry. Ever since the mission, Sarah had known he was worried about what had happened to the guard – and ever since she'd tried to make him feel better. He smiled, but then remembered the time. He dashed out of the room, into the hall, down the stairs and out of the building. When he reached Zara's office – he paused. He could see no lights on inside the room. He wondered if he should wait, but unfortunately Harry wasn't the best when it came to patience. Slowly, he twisted the brass handle and realised it was unlocked. Cautiously, he crept into the room and switched on the light. He found a chair and sat down. All around the room were relics from Zara's past. On the table at which Harry was now sitting, there were three photos. One was of Joshua, Zara's young son, with his sister Tiffany. The second photo was of Ewart, her husband. The third and final one was of Zara herself, with some friends, apparently runners, at Wembley Stadium. For a moment Harry became lost in looking at the pictures, and jumped when I voice spoke from behind him. "You know, it's not permitted to enter my office without permission". Zara was standing at the door – smiling at Harry. "I'm sorry, it's just I thought you might be inside and I…I just thought that I could go in because – because the door was unlocked and I… Zara stopped him. "Did I leave it unlocked?" she asked. "I should really be more careful. I had to go and check on Joshua, a boy called James Adams is looking after him for me. I see you've sat down". Harry's face went bright red in embarrassment, he realised that he was sitting in the chairwomen's office without her permission. "I…I..." Zara laughed. "I'm not going to kill you. It's just that perhaps it would be a good idea to ask before you enter". She walked over to behind the table and sat down. Just as she did this, Sarah burst through the door; she had obviously experienced the same rush as Harry. He thought this was strange, considering she had had time to leave him a note, but then he remembered. He _had_ seen it, just before he drifted off to sleep. But he hadn't really thought about it. Sarah hair was a mess and her top and jeans ruffled. She took the seat next to Harry, panting though trying to hide it. She looked at him for a brief second, and then at Zara. "Sarah, you're fourteen now; I think you should be able to get yourself ready in time in the morning" Zara said glaring at her. Sarah lowered her head in the way a young child would, but also in a way of respect. "I know, I'm sorry it's just…well I forgot to set my alarm clock and I was up late last night". Zara gave Sarah a funny look. "Doing What?" Harry guessed that she had been up late last night to leave that note. But she obviously didn't want Zara to know this. "I…I was finishing a homework assignment" she replied. It was unclear how much Zara believed her, but she moved on the conversation. "Alright. Now, I expect you both know what you are here for today". Both Harry and Sarah nodded. Zara glanced at the table top. She dug through a few pieces of paper before she found the mission file. Inside were pages of detailed information. She turned the file around and pushed it forward for the two to read. As she did this she repeated an extract she had previously read. "…_Despite the acts being in self-defence, the two CHERUB agents remain responsible for the injuries inflicted on Mr Woodcroft. The 47 year old guard sustained a fractured thigh and a broken chin…" _ "Do either of you realise the severe consequences of this?" Zara asked in a higher, more dangerous tone to that of the conversation previously. "Our cover could have been blown! I know it wasn't your intentions for it to go that way, but don't give me some 'It wasn't my fault' shit, because you both know there was no need for the violence!" "With respect" Sarah spoke up, "attack was our only option, he was pointing a gun at us, if we hadn't interfered then he would have shot us…" "Gun or not, you didn't need to advance with a full-blown attack, you could have easily knocked him down, it would have been a simple procedure!" The argument bounced back and forth between Zara and Sarah, Harry closed his eyes – he couldn't take much more of it" But then Zara said another retort. "Don't be stupid. You're a CHERUB agent, it's simple to stop an attack from someone with a gun!.." The second she said this, the sentence triggered a memory in Harry's brain, one so horrible he had tried to put it out of his mind completely; he snapped. "SHUT UP!" he screamed, standing up and smashing his fist hard down onto the table. Pencils and stationary flew into the air, and Zara's mug fell from the table smashing to fragments. "We we're scared!" he shouted almost in tears. "I was scared…" Everything fell silent. Sarah placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, who had his head in his shaking hands on the table. Finally Zara re-found her voice. "We…we'll continue this at a later point. Sarah, please take Harry back to his dorm; you're both debriefed." Harry got to his feet and he and Sarah began to walk from the room. "…and I'm afraid you're both excluded from missions until further notice." The two stopped for a minute outside the corridor, in front of them were a group of lockers. Harry smashed his fist into one, and continued walking. Sarah tried to catch up with him. "Hey, wait up! Look, it's fine if you don't want to talk about it and all but what happened in there?" Harry glanced at her, only to look away again. "It was nothing. I…I'm fine." "That was nothing?" Sarah questioned. "Please, I can help." "It was just a memory. I'm fine now." Harry continued walking away, leaving Sarah wondering what on earth had happened.

_. _

.uk


End file.
